• The county Republican Housekeeping Committee spent nearly $400,000 during the last six months of 2011. The Monroe County Democratic Committee, which reports its expenses differently, spent $664,263 on campaign and housekeeping combined.

Housekeeping committees

New York state election law allows political parties recognized by the state to raise money unbounded by any donation limits for purposes of maintaining a headquarters and staff and carrying on activities apart from campaigning for any candidate. Party committees can do this by setting up a separate housekeeping account, with separate campaign finance disclosure reports, or by noting housekeeping receipts and expenses are part of their regular committee disclosure report.

Political party expenses

A Democrat and Chronicle analysis of “housekeeping” expenses by the two main Monroe County political party committees, the Republicans and Democrats, for the last six months of 2011 shows: Payroll GOP: $131,000Democrats: $208,401Fuel & mileage GOP: $2,600Democrats: $3,874Food GOP: $15,000Democrats: $4,893

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The Monroe County Republican Committee has distinguished itself as one of the most successful county political parties in New York, able to spend more than a million dollars a year on expenses such as campaign support, staff, consultants, food and travel.

Political organizations like the county GOP and Democrats are helped by generous campaign finance laws that allow them to raise unlimited amounts of money for something known as “housekeeping committees,” which are separate from the accounts parties use for campaign activities.

The Monroe County Republican Committee is one of the richest committees in the state, helped by corporate donors which do business with the county or the committee. In the last six months of 2011 the county GOP spent more than $1 million combined from housekeeping and campaign accounts, according to the latest data available.

The county Democratic Party committee, meanwhile, spent $664,263, just 63 percent of the GOP.

Housekeeping committees are able to raise what is known as “soft money” to pay for expenses such as maintaining a permanent headquarters, paying year-round staff members and general activities, but the money cannot be used for campaign expenses for a specific candidate.

The rules for disclosure are also weak, though the county GOP has trouble following the laws that do exist, according to election law and the state Board of Elections.

For example, the county GOP does not itemize its payroll expenses, unlike its Democratic counterpart. The disclosure forms just say “payroll” and list a lump sum that was paid out to several employees, the number and identity of whom aren’t clear.

State election law, meanwhile, states that every disbursement must be itemized, unless the expense is less than $50.

“You can’t just say ‘payroll,’ ” said Thomas Connolly, deputy director of public information at the state Board of Elections. The “purpose” field of the disclosure form should say payroll, but the name and address of the person to whom the payroll was disbursed should be stated, he said.

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County Republican Chairman Bill Reilich declined to say how many people the committee employs, or identify them.

“We report it to the IRS, and they know how much each person makes,” Reilich said.

Asked about his own salary, Reilich — who like county Democratic Chairman Joseph Morelle is also a state assemblyman — wouldn’t reveal it, and said only that pay is typically commensurate with performance. “We’ve had a great deal of success here,” he said with a grin.

There are about 35,000 fewer registered Republicans voters in Monroe County than Democrats, but the GOP controls 18 of 19 town governments and three of four countywide offices.

The six-month housekeeping committee expense report ending on Jan. 15 also has four expense lines that are labeled “petty cash,” one for $1,000 and three others for $500. There are no details on how the money was spent. State law prohibits political parties from paying more than $100 in cash for expenses.

“Basically it shouldn’t be done that way,” Connolly said. “The law does specify you should state the recipient.”

Connolly said the “petty cash” should be listed as unitemized expenses instead.

The petty cash fund is used for reimbursements or for incidentals when party officials travel and need cash, such as for cab rides and hot dogs from street vendors, Reilich said.

A different line for “unitemized” expenses, common on campaign finance reports and within the law, is for $6,571, which, according to the party, represents many disbursements of less than $50.

And while housekeeping committees are not intended to help individual candidates, the committee paid a website development company, Big Room Studios, that was used in Bill Taylor’s campaign for district attorney. Taylor’s campaign committee never reported paying the company for any service.

Party officials said they purchased a website template through the housekeeping committee that multiple candidates could use if they wish, and said the template has been used to develop a new party website.

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Additional expenses, such as acquiring the Web domain or modifications not included in the template, would be incurred by the candidate’s campaign, Reilich said.

The Democrats also purchased software for $1,409 with housekeeping funds for use by candidates, who would reimburse the party for its use, Morelle said.

But the state Board of Elections couldn’t say whether a housekeeping committee can pay for something used by multiple candidates.

“I think that would be a matter of interpretation,” said John Conklin, director of public information for the board.

New York’s campaign finance laws are notoriously loose, and enforcement is weak. While Gov. Andrew Cuomo established campaign finance reform as a priority in his State of the State address, he has not yet submitted any legislation toward that end.

The Board of Elections is concerned with the timely filing of reports and contribution-limit compliance. Penalties for not filing a disclosure report or exceeding contribution limits include fines and misdemeanor and felony charges. Election law does not enumerate penalties for vague disclosure reports, though that would be addressed in state penal law, Conklin said.

“The (enforcement) structure is based on the fact that the committee discloses,” he said. “We are not here to make sure that (the reports) are accurate.”

The Board of Elections does some auditing, and it investigates when staff members are aware there is an issue, though there are just 18 people in the board’s campaign finance unit, seven of which would be used for enforcement, Connolly said.

Campaign donors are just a small segment of the population, but campaigns and political parties rely on them to pay for such basic expenses as gas and food for staff and volunteers.

One of the county Republican committee’s biggest costs is food, an average of $2,450 per month. While its expense report lists meals at high-end restaurants, such as a $1,751 visit to Crescent Beach and catering by Mario’s, the overwhelming number of expenses were for more casual fare, including seven trips to Moe’s Southwest Grill — also patronized by Democrats — and many pizza and sub orders.

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Feeding volunteers is important to Reilich, he said, because he was once a volunteer at the committee, and knows volunteers are in short supply.

“I believe, if somebody’s volunteering, I’m not looking for them to reach into their pocket while they’re helping us because it’s a whole lot cheaper than paying people,” Reilich said. “I’m big on food.”

And while rules governing housekeeping committees allow for larger donations, the groups are not always self-sufficient. The GOP housekeeping committee regularly receives large sums from the party’s campaign account to keep the permanent operation going, such as $75,000 in transfers during the last six months of 2011.

Democrats did not transfer any funds from their campaign committee to their housekeeping account. However, the housekeeping committee spent $255,405, and raised just $87,700 during the last six months of 2011.

Democrats also employed Morelle’s son, Nick, in 2011, who helped out with tasks around the office, Morelle said. Morelle’s older son, Joseph, also has worked for the committee in the past.

“I can easily fire them,” Morelle joked.

Across the state, the Monroe County Republican Committee consistently raises the second-most amount of money of any county party committee, about $1.5 million annually, according to an analysis by the New York Public Interest Research Group. The Nassau County Republican Committee on Long Island raised about $2 million in the last year.

The Monroe County Democratic Committee’s housekeeping expenses totaled $255,405 in the last six months of 2011, compared with the Republicans’ housekeeping expenses of $389,462.

Donors contacted for this story declined to speak about their donations.

Many calls for reform

Calls to reform New York’s campaign finance laws are perennial, but this year, advocates, including wealthy members of New York’s business community, have joined the effort.

Cuomo’s support is seen as crucial.

Several good-government groups and newspaper editorial pages have called for any campaign finance reforms to include changes to laws governing housekeeping committees.

“In order to be successful, campaign finance reform must include limits on contributions made to parties and their housekeeping accounts,” said Bill Mahoney, of NYPIRG, a close watcher of campaign finance reports.

“If limits are only placed on candidates, wealthy donors would be able to spend just as much on elections as long as their money is filtered through party committees.”